My understanding is that the slow-down of egg production has more to do with day length than how cold it is. We have 33 hens and during peak laying season, we get about 30 eggs a day. Right now we are getting an average of about 6 eggs a day.

We don't add additional lighting because we feel the chickens need a "laying break'.

My understanding is that the slow-down of egg production has more to do with day length than how cold it is. We have 33 hens and during peak laying season, we get about 30 eggs a day. Right now we are getting an average of about 6 eggs a day.

We don't add additional lighting because we feel the chickens need a "laying break'.

I have 7 hens too, my girls were hatched in March of 2006. We are only getting two eggs a day as well. I have a couple of girls moulting, its typical for them to experience their first hard moult at around 18 months of age. we don't add light either.

I would agree that the drop in daylight hours definately lessens their production..I would de-worm your flock in the spring just as a precaution...I do mine spring then fall,they can get sick from parasites and it can cause feather loss.

It must be the lighting but I don't want to add light either. what do you think of the thing in the yoke.

CI

I see little specks in the white from time to time. The ones I see don't look like worms, just specks. I take them out. I always thought they were bits of oyster shell.

My yolks have a spot on them. But mine are fertile eggs.

How 'worm-like' did it look?

How often do you de-worm your flock?

Kitty

to tell the truth I have never wormed them. I have never had a need that I could tell. I really thought worms would show in their Poo not their eggs. It was about an inch long and skins colored. and was not in the yoke I'm wondering if it was just a piece of skin that formed in before the shell. we are giving oyster shells also maybe it was a calcium deposit. Im just grasping for straws now.
I have only had this flock a year. and have only been keeping a hobby flock about two years now. but am still learning everyday. I have only had one sick hen before and that was a prolapse. We got that fixed up with daily care.

CI

CI, it sounds like it could have been a meat spot? if it was just a one time thing I wouldn't worry about it. The egg decrease is normal this time of year, once the spring comes things should pick up a bit. You might want to add some new pullets to the group this spring just to pick up the extra slack of some of the aging girls :)

-Sheila

A meat spot huh? yuck S. these hens are probably about 2 to 3 years old. what i would really like to to get an americuna roo and breed. Everyone around here acts like you have to use an incubater, isn't it possible to just let nature take its course and let them hatch on their own?

CI

What you found in your egg was quite normal. Most likely it was the "meat spot" sullicorbitt suggested. Usually kind of a reddish/brown/whitish slightly spongy looking thing. You will also periodically find blood spots in the eggs or on the yolks. This is why I always break eggs into a separate dish when cooking, and cringe when watching cooking shows where they break the egg directly into the almost finished batter. The material is harmless, but very unappetizing.

It could also have been some of the membrane on the inside of the eggshell that tore off and ended up in the egg, plus egg yolks are "anchored" into the whites by a couple little which corkscrew shaped "springs".

The oyster shell helps make strong shells and shouldn't cause any problem with the eggs.

You can breed your hens and let them sit on their own eggs. If the hen isn't isolated from other chickens, you are likely to accumulate more eggs in the nest as the incubation progresses so may get a relatively low hatching rate from the half-incubated eggs left over when the main bunch hatch. Artificially incubating the eggs allows you to control risks better and control the hatching environment, hopefully getting a higher hatching rate.

Thanks thats exactly what it looked like.

If I ever do find a roo. i was thinking I could mark the first few eggs and see what how that works then I will know the oldest eggs. I just hate that I want all hens LOl and know thats not gonna happen.

CI

Finding a roo is pretty easy, it's finding roo who you can LIVE with that's the trick!

And I do the same as beeone - I always crack my eggs in a different dish. One night my DH brought in all the eggs, and two had been under a hen for two weeks. Major YUCK!

Kitty